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My NetworkManager is not writing to /var/run/networkmanager/resolv.conf and NetworkManager not populating resolv.conf is not the answer to my situation, because I don't use resolvconf. More details below:

I switched managing my ethernet from /etc/network/interfaces to NetworkManager, which somehow never writes to /var/run/networkmanager/resolv.conf:

$ nmcli d  
DEVICE  TYPE      STATE      CONNECTION  
eth0    ethernet  connected  Wired connection 1
lo      loopback  unmanaged  --          

$ ls /var/run/NetworkManager/resolv.conf
ls: cannot access '/var/run/NetworkManager/resolv.conf': No such file or directory

$ ls /var/run/nm-dns-dnsmasq.conf
ls: cannot access '/var/run/nm-dns-dnsmasq.conf': No such file or directory

That never bothered me when I'm using /etc/network/interfaces, but now that I'm using NetworkManager, I need it to update my resolv.conf.

Here is my NetworkManager.conf:

cat /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile
dns=dnsmasq

[ifupdown]
managed=false

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

Some answers say I should have dns=dnsmasq in there, but some say I should not. All in all, I'm still confused how to have NetworkManager updating /var/run/networkmanager/resolv.conf.

Update, further info:

$ resolvectl status | grep DNS
-su: resolvectl: command not found

$ dpkg -l '*dns*' | grep 'ii *dns'
ii  dns-root-data  2018013001   all          DNS root data including root zone
ii  dnsmasq        2.79-1       all          Small caching DNS proxy and DHCP/
ii  dnsmasq-base   2.79-1       amd64        Small caching DNS proxy and DHCP/
ii  dnsutils       1:9.11.3+dfs amd64        Clients provided with BIND

$ dpkg -l '*resolv*' | grep ii || echo no resolvconf
no resolvconf

$ ls -al /etc/resolv.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 79 2019-03-03 18:42 /etc/resolv.conf

$ host 8.8.8.8 
8.8.8.8.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer google-public-dns-a.google.com.

$ host www.ebay.com
www.ebay.com is an alias for slot9428.ebay.com.edgekey.net.
slot9428.ebay.com.edgekey.net is an alias for e9428.b.akamaiedge.net.
e9428.b.akamaiedge.net has address 104.93.181.25

$ lsb_release -a 
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic

Update2.

  • This is not a vanilla Ubuntu installation, but my customized installation from fresh (not an upgrade from previous version). I remove resolvconf myself, because I was using /etc/network/interfaces, and didn't want my /etc/resolv.conf to be changing all the time. Maybe that's the culprit and NetworkManager can't work without resolvconf?
  • My full intention is to "Replace systemd-resolved with dnsmasq" (which I practiced using 18.04 LiveCD, which has the resolvconf), and use it for my LAN DNS server. Em, maybe in that case I don't need NetworkManager changing my /etc/resolv.conf all the time.

Anyway, here are the info for further investigation:

$ dpkg -l '*resolv*'
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
un  resolvconf     <none>       <none>       (no description available)

$ cat /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf
cat: /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf: No such file or directory

$ cat /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf
# This file is managed by man:systemd-resolved(8). Do not edit.
. . . 
nameserver 64.71.255.204
nameserver 64.71.255.198
search hitronhub.home

$ cat /etc/netplan/*.yaml
# Let NetworkManager manage all devices on this system
network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager
  ethernets:
    eth0:
      addresses: [192.168.0.11/24, 192.168.0.10/24]
      gateway4: 192.168.0.1

$ ps auxc | grep resolv
systemd+ 23890  0.0  0.0  70608  1520 ?        Ss   Mar01   0:00 systemd-resolve

$ sudo lsof -i tcp:53
COMMAND     PID            USER   FD   TYPE   DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
systemd-r 23890 systemd-resolve   13u  IPv4 47127798      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.53:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq    5u  IPv4 47935969      0t0  TCP 192.168.0.10:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq    7u  IPv4 47935971      0t0  TCP 192.168.0.11:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq    9u  IPv4 47935973      0t0  TCP localhost.myhost.org:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq   11u  IPv6 47935975      0t0  TCP [fe80::xxxx]:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq   13u  IPv6 47935977      0t0  TCP [2607:fea8:xxxx]:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq   15u  IPv6 47935979      0t0  TCP [fd00:xxxx]:domain (LISTEN)
dnsmasq   29822         dnsmasq   17u  IPv6 47935981      0t0  TCP ip6-localhost:domain (LISTEN)
4
  • I am not surprised that a 2012 post is no longer effective. Please edit your question to add the result of: resolvectl status | grep DNS Welcome to Ask Ubuntu.
    – chili555
    Mar 4, 2019 at 0:00
  • What version Ubuntu? Edit your question and show me dpkg -l *dns* | grep ii and dpkg -l *resolv* | grep ii and ls -al /etc/resolv.conf and host 8.8.8.8 and host www.ebay.com. Report back to @heynnema
    – heynnema
    Mar 4, 2019 at 2:40
  • Thanks @chili555, I got resolvectl: command not found for that.
    – xpt
    Mar 4, 2019 at 4:38
  • Something is wrong here. Is your 18.04 an upgrade, or a clean install? Show me cat /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf and cat /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf and cat /etc/netplan/*.yaml and ps auxc | grep resolv. Have you made any modifications to any network software here? Uninstalled something? Show this command again... with no modifications... dpkg -l *resolv*, Why no resolvconf?
    – heynnema
    Mar 4, 2019 at 5:21

1 Answer 1

2

No wonder I said "Something is wrong here". In your "customization", you've kind of made an unnecessary mess of things. Stop trying to defeat the system. Sorry.


In /etc/netplan/*.yaml you've combined NetworkManager and netplan script. Your .yaml file should look like this...

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager

This information belongs in NetworkManager GUI connection profile, or in /etc/network/interfaces, in NetworkManager speak... not netplan speak...

ethernets:
    eth0:
      addresses: [192.168.0.11/24, 192.168.0.10/24] (why two addresses?)
      gateway4: 192.168.0.1

  • reinstall resolvconf
  • reset /etc/resolv.conf symlink
    • see below for link information
    • and don't manually edit this file
  • edit /etc/systemd/resolved.conf (see below for instructions)
  • remove dns=dnsmasq from /etc/network/interfaces
  • remove dnsmasq* unless you can explain why you need it

Regarding dnsmasq and systemd-resolved...

Do a ps auxc | grep -i dns and ps auxc | grep -i resolv and look for dnsmasq and systemd-resolved, and if both are running, you need to disable the DNS part of systemd-resolved by editing /etc/systemd/resolved.conf and...

change:

#DNSStubListener=yes

to:

DNSStubListener=no

then restart systemd-resolve and dnsmasq, or reboot.

You MAY need to reset the symlink that is /etc/resolv.conf (if dnsmasq is not running)...

sudo mv /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.OLD # save the old symlink

sudo ln -s /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf # create new symlink

Note: original symlink is...

sudo ln -s /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

3
  • Thanks a lot heynnema, I wasn't messing up my system, I was just trying to get what I want based on all sorts of (weird/out-dated) answers I found from the internet. :-) Glad to find askubuntu to be the prefect place for my weird questions. Thanks at lot for all your helps!
    – xpt
    Mar 4, 2019 at 17:08
  • +1 for "Stop trying to defeat the system."
    – chili555
    Mar 4, 2019 at 21:40
  • @chili555 that's funny... giggle.
    – heynnema
    Mar 4, 2019 at 23:59

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